My Family

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Last week we(minus Trevor) headed to the fair. It was a little too cold for Trevor so he stayed with NiNi and Papa. We met Keith, Kelly and Brayden there - Brayden is about 6 months older than Brody and they get along great. We met there about 6:00 and the boys were ready to ride some rides. I was pleasantly surprised at the number of kiddie rides so all the rides for 1 price was a good deal for us. Brody's favorite is probably the merry go round but he rode almost everything. He was a little timid on a couple of the rides and didn't want to ride at first. Brody's not to excited about the ferris wheel and he of course said no way to riding it. Well, while Jason held him with his back to the ride we just got on real fast and he really didn't have a chance to say no again. Now don't think we are terrible parents because he didn't even cry on it and I think he actually enjoyed it. Brody is very timid about certain things and takes awhile to get used to things so we knew he would be fine on the ride.

His favorite - the merry go round.

The poor worker on this ride - both boys found the horn and that's all they kept doing and of course they wanted to keep riding this ride.

We weren't sure how he would do on this one, but as you can tell it was a thumbs up.

His first roller coaster - hopefully we are ready for Disney World in a few weeks.

We then went to see some of the animals and the boys thought they were great especially the chickens. The boys kept imitating them which was quite funny.Can't you tell they were having a blast.

Their friend Baylie was sick that night so we thought it was pretty funny there was a cow there named Bailey so we had to get a picture.

This was one of the best nights and I don't think I've seen Brody have so much fun - this is such a fun age (take out the tantrums that can occasionally occur).

Am I the only one who loves to look at cookbooks? I think I got this from my mother - I think she collects them. Well, I love to try new recipes and Tara ordered me the Cooking Light magazine so I found this French Toast recipe in there and had to try it. This is the first time I've made french toast and it turned out pretty good - I tried to make it look as pretty as the picture because isn't it all in the presentation?

Last week, the 2 boys and I met Tracy and Baylie at Tunnelz N Tumblez for a day of fun. I wasn't sure how Brody was going to do with this type of place because he can be a little timid - or scared to try too many new things. He has never really liked going up in tunnels - Jason usually has to crawl up in there with him and drag him along but I thought we would try this place and see how he did. I was really more concerned about taking both boys out with me, but thankfully Tracy was there to assist when needed.

Of course Brody wasn't too keen on the whole idea of going up in the tunnels even though Baylie tried real hard to get him up there. I crawled up there a couple of times and drug him with me. He really enjoyed just running around - true freedom. After about an hour or so of running thru the tunnels they went to play miniature golf. Thank goodness Brody realized it was a putter and not his driver because that's all I needed was a ball launched and break something.

It was a great day and I'm pretty sure Brody and Baylie had a great time playing together. I'm determined to survive with both boys out and about, so this helped me get one step closer.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

I don't claim to have much if any creativity ( so the experience below was a big deal for me) - I always wished I had an ounce of creativity my roommate from college had. Well, now that our addition is finally complete I am trying to figure out how to organize it and what to put where and use what we already have. In the old office, I had several black bookshelves and decided to use one of the smaller ones in the playroom for some of the books and extra toys and paint it the same blue that is in the tray ceiling.

One day driving home, I called Jason with what I thought was great idea of putting Brody and Trevor's hand prints on the sides of the bookshelves. He actually asked where did I hear that idea from because he knows I'm not creative - I was proud to say that I had come up with it myself. It must be the 10 weeks of being a stay at home mom and trying to come up with things for Brody to do. We ended up using Brody's hand prints and Trevor's feet prints (much easier then trying to pry a 2 month's hands open).

It was such a coincidence that a friend of mine - Lyndsay was doing something very similar - her OPAM (One Project A Month). She had a great idea of using scrapbook paper on the back of the bookshelf instead of painting it. I loved it. Here's a few before and after pictures.

The Black bookshelf before

The final project:

Since I was in the creative mood, I thought I would try and save some money and make my own clothes dividers for each clothing size for Trevor's closet. There were so many times with Brody that he outgrew something and I didn't even realize he had that in that size because it got lost in his clothes. Here's my solution for Trevor's closet.

So far it has been very helpful because I already found a couple of outfits that I forgot he had. Not sure I have too much more creativity in me but I do have one more project I'm working on - I'll keep you posted.

Friday, October 9, 2009

Last Friday we took Trevor for his 2 month check up with Dr. Hardman (she is wonderful). It was shot time - so Jason goes with me because I can't handle it. He weighed 11.5 pounds and was 23 inches long which puts him at the 50% mark for both weight and height. Dr. Hardman says he is doing great.

Getting one of the vaccines - he actually liked it. The 3 shots coming later were a different story.

Trevor is sleeping pretty good thru the night - anywhere between 6-8 hours. It's hard to let him cry it out when he wakes up at 5AM because I don't want him to wake up Brody, but I think it's about time to let him cry some so we don't get in a early wakeup habit. His naps are pretty funny during the day - he is like clock work - eat, happy wake time 20 minutes, then starts to cry because he's tired so it's off to a nap and without fail he'll wake up exactly 1 hour later which is 30 minutes until his next feeding. It's so funny how he does this.

He hates the stroller and car seat and does not like to fall asleep in them. I don't rock him to sleep but he's held until he gets kind of drowsy and then off to the crib. He may cry for a little bit but he knows it's nap time. I thank the book Baby Wise for these tips - they worked for Brody so we are doing them again. Now if I can only get him to stay asleep until about 7:30 - doesn't he know I have to go back to work soon.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

A couple of weeks ago, I was determined to take Brody somewhere so he could play. The selection was the Hands on Children's Museum and yes I took both boys - I said was determined. When we showed up I saw a school bus so I assumed it was pretty crowded with a field trip - but it wasn't too bad so we stayed. I put Trevor in the front harness and we were off for Brody to enjoy the day. Once I got in there, I realized how germaphobe I was becoming - can you blame with all the flu and H1N1 stuff going around. It probably wasn't the best time to go to this type of place.

Brody loved the ball pit - which I know has to be the biggest place for germs but we used plenty of hand sanitizer for the day. Thank goodness the field trippers were using it to. The museum also has a mini Winn Dixie in there with shopping carts and all - he was having a blast shopping. However, it was a chore to get him to put the groceries back up. It was the cutest thing to hear him say what all he "needed". At one point he put ALL of the apples in his buggy so none of the other kids could have any - thankfully he did share a couple when they came up and asked.

We stayed for almost 2 hours and I needed to make a quick stop at Hobby Lobby - but nothing is really quick with 2 boys. Of course it was time for Trevor to eat so I grabbed McDonald's and we ate in the Hobby Lobby parking lot while I fed Trevor. Well, this is where the story gets good, funny, sad - take your pick. I put Trevor back in his carseat so I could finish eating and of course I hear him start doing his business - no big deal I think because I'll just change it and we'll be ready to go inside. Well, once I get back there to change him I notice his clothes are a different color as well as the car seat - yes his business had run all out of his diaper and down into the car seat. In all of 2 years Brody was in that seat the cover never had to be washed and Trevor succeeded at doing it at 7 weeks old.

Of course it had to be about 90 degrees that day and so I pull the stroller out of the back (because I need all the space I can get to clean this mess). I put the car seat back there and attempt to start changing Trevor. I must have used about 20 wipes to get that mess up. I couldn't take the car seat inside Hobby Lobby with me because I'm sure it smelled lovely, so Trevor laid in the back of the stroler and screamed the entire time through Hobby Lobby. I could not believe I was doing this but I really needed to get some things at this store - it definitely was a quick trip. When I got home - everything was washed and sanitized real well. Whew, what a day.

Last Tuesday, Jason's friend David moved into a new house in Nocatee. Since Jason was going to be helping him move in, I thought I would tag along with the 2 boys and walk to their playground and let Brody play. We all know nice neighborhoods like that have a playground - something us in the country aren't use to. I picked Jason up from work and after several minutes of screaming, Trevor finally fell asleep. Needless to say, it takes Trevor a LOOOONG time to fall asleep in the car or stroller if at all. So not like Brody who fell asleep in a second - and still does.

Once Jason got to work helping move David in, I ventured off with my new handy stroller for 2 to the park. Trevor Screamed the entire walk to the park - what child doesn't like to be outside? Well, Brody had a great time on the playground and had it all to himself.

Friday, October 2, 2009

Brody loves to help me in the kitchen so of course when I suggested making brownies one night he was VERY excited to help. I think he likes the end as much as I do - I'm not sure I like the idea of sharing the spoon at the end though.

With fall comes one thing around our house - FOOTBALL. Thank goodness I don't mind it so much seeing that I have 2 boys now!! I actually love watching college football - really only the Gators. A couple of weeks ago, we had Keith and Kelly and their boy Brayden over to watch the game. Brayden is about 6 months older than Brody and they get along great. They had a blast playing in the playroom. It's amazing to think what we did before that was built.

About Me

Jason and I have been married for 13 years and we have 2 wonderful boys - Brody who is 7 and Trevor who is 4. Jason works as a finance manager and I am blessed to be a stay at home mom (God sure works in mysterious ways). God has truly blessed us and we are so thankful. I can't wait to see what God has in store for us in the years ahead.